A voice from Harper's Ferry; a narrative of events at Harper's Ferry : $b with incidents prior and subsequent to its capture by Captain Brown and his menAnderson, Osborne P. (Osborne Perry)
History
A voice from Harper's Ferry; a narrative of events at Harper's Ferry : $b with incidents prior and subsequent to its capture by Captain Brown and his men
Anderson, Osborne P. (Osborne Perry)
Brown, John, 1800-1859; Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) -- History -- John Brown's Raid, 1859
When the Captain received the news that the troops had entered the
bridge from the Maryland side, he, with some of his men, went into the
street, and sent a message to the Arsenal for us to come forth also.
We hastened to the street as ordered, when he said--“The troops are on
the bridge, coming into town; we will give them a warm reception.” He
then walked around amongst us, giving us words of encouragement, in
this wise:--“Men! be cool! Don’t waste your powder and shot! Take aim,
and make every shot count!” “The troops will look for us to retreat on
their first appearance; be careful to shoot first.” Our men were well
supplied with fire-arms, but Capt. Brown had no rifle at that time; his
only weapon was the sword before mentioned.
The troops soon came out of the bridge, and up the street facing us, we
occupying an irregular position. When they got within sixty or seventy
yards, Capt. Brown said, “Let go upon them!” which we did, when several
of them fell. Again and again the dose was repeated.
There was now consternation among the troops. From marching in solid
martial columns, they became scattered. Some hastened to seize upon
and bear up the wounded and dying,--several lay dead upon the ground.
They seemed not to realize, at first, that we would fire upon them, but
evidently expected we would be driven out by them without firing. Capt.
Brown seemed fully to understand the matter, and hence, very properly
and in our defence, undertook to forestall their movements. The
consequence of their unexpected reception was, after leaving several of
their dead on the field, they beat a confused retreat into the bridge,
and there stayed under cover until reinforcements came to the Ferry.
On the retreat of the troops, we were ordered back to our former post.
While going, Dangerfield Newby, one of our colored men, was shot
through the head by a person who took aim at him from a brick store
window, on the opposite side of the street, and who was there for the
purpose of firing upon us. Newby was a brave fellow. He was one of my
comrades at the Arsenal. He fell at my side, and his death was promptly
avenged by Shields Green, the Zouave of the band, who afterwards met
his fate calmly on the gallows, with John Copeland. Newby was shot
twice; at the first fire, he fell on his side and returned it; as he
lay, a second shot was fired, and the ball entered his head. Green
raised his rifle in an instant, and brought down the cowardly murderer,
before the latter could get his gun back through the sash.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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